The dignity of the office
Salleh Said Keruak
There is such a thing called the dignity of the office. For example, in the military you salute the uniform and not the person. That means the rank of that person is given respect and not that person in his personal capacity.
Simultaneously, the person holding a certain position or rank must also protect the dignity of that position or rank. Basically, you protect the dignity of your office.
And that is why it would have been improper for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to engage in a public debate with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The fact that it was not a scheduled debate but an ‘ambush’ debate — because initially it was just supposed to be a dialogue with the Prime Minister — makes it even worse.
A Prime Minister should not be invited for a function and then the function is secretly changed to something else without his knowledge or prior agreement. This was what the Prime Minister said in explaining why he did not turn up for last Friday’s dialogue turned debate.
